Sofia Koutzoukis's CAS Internship with the NCPN & NPS

In the summer of 2019, CAS trainee Sofia Koutzoukis interned with the Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) and NPS under the mentorship of David Thoma and Dana Witwicky. As an intern, Sofia utilized remotely sensed NDVI and EVI data, field collected measures of cover, and modeled water balance variables to understand the sensitivity of relationships to drought. This project found no correlation between field measurements or water balance and NDVI. The team is working to elucidate areas of the parks that may need more intervention or protection than others.

Sofia gained a skillset in Google Earth Engine, data wrangling of large datasets, and landscape-level analyses.

In the summer of 2020, Sofia will continue to exmplore the relationships between NDVI, water balance, and field observations.